Name/Title
Sussex Police female officer's truncheon c1980 - 1995Entry/Object ID
612Description
Short style plain wooden truncheon, 11 inches (28 cm) long, finished in a reddish stain and varnished. Multi turned handle grip with leather riveted wrist strap. No maker's stamp or mark.Use
For use by a female police officer as protectionContext
Only with 1974 Equal Opportunities Act and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act were female police officers finally given the same status as male officers. Until then female officers had not been paid the same as their male colleagues or permitted to carry out the same range of duties or join specialist departments. Not being exposed to as much "front line" duties and being confined to many women specific roles, they were not issued with truncheons.
After 1975 the situation changed and it was recognised that female officers needed to be able to defend themselves, now that they were expected to carry out the full range of duties. However in some police forces they were not issued with truncheons until the 1980s.
In Sussex Constabulary some women officers may have been issued with small truncheons as early as 1971, though it is not known how widespread this was and whether the practice extended back to the formation of the force in 1968. However following the 1975 changes all female officers were issued with short truncheons. Those initially issued were often older hardwood types previously intended for use by detectives, who by the late 1960s did not routinely carry any truncheons at all. Over time newer shorter truncheons specifically purchased for female officers, like the one pictured were issued.
In the 1970s and 1980s female police officers' standard uniform in Sussex Police and elsewhere consisted of a skirt without pockets. In order for them to carry equipment they were issued with handbags, some of which had special pockets to carry things such as handcuffs and radios. Standard size wooden truncheons were too big to fit in these bags so the smaller ones were issued.
This particular example probably dates to the 1980s. Only in the 1990s were trousers routinely offered to Sussex female constables, allowing them to carry full sized truncheons in pockets. Not long afterwards all officers began to be issued with polycarbonate batons, worn on a belt, and wooden truncheons of all sizes were withdrawn.